Concept based terminology mapping may be incredibly useful when it comes to managing terminology and applying the terminology to multiple aspects of a record system, e.g., an electronic health record system, which may rely upon one or more terminology or code sets for one or more aspects of a business.
Although these terminology mappings undoubtedly are useful, there may be several difficulties in their implementation. For example, problems may arise in the areas of initial implementation, updates, and searchability. One example of an interface terminology mapping method that may address many of these issues and may be useful in managing multiple code sets may be described and claimed in the commonly-owned pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/660,512, titled “Method and System for Concept-Based Terminology Management,” the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
In addition, while terminology mapping such as that described in the '512 application may provide an advantageous way of managing terminology, issues may arise in the distribution of the terminology to various entities. For example, there may be difficulties in distributing information to multiple entities that may be contained within a single, interrelated organization—such as doctors and billing departments within a hospital—or that may comprise multiple, independent organizations—such as entities at different, unaffiliated hospitals.
While care providers may benefit from robust and accurate terminology distribution, e.g., by enabling the providers to create and maintain detailed, accurate health records and by facilitating complete, accurate billing, it also may be useful for the care provider to have access to additional information at least tangentially related to the patient's visit. For example, the practitioner may benefit from immediate access to recent studies or courses of treatment relating to the same condition the patient has. The practitioner also may wish to supply the patient with additional information relevant to the patient's visit, and it would be useful to have that information immediately available without requiring an extensive search by the practitioner.
What are needed are a system and method that address the issues presented above.